Ice dams!

[the squirrel]

I just put gutters on last year and now I have a leaking roof into the garage! I know they sell heat cords but I needed to get this jam removed as fast as I could so I put a bunch of salt on top of that to loosen it up. Not my ideal choice as I don't want a bunch of dead grass in the spring. Thought about putting the hose on the hot water coming into the washer but what a mess it would be with a frozen sidewalk and driveway. Any one out their dealing with this same problem right now? I know next year I will have a heat cord up their.

[Alagnak]

I just put gutters on last year and now I have a leaking roof into the garage! I know they sell heat cords but I needed to get this jam removed as fast as I could so I put a bunch of salt on top of that to loosen it up. Not my ideal choice as I don't want a bunch of dead grass in the spring. Thought about putting the hose on the hot water coming into the washer but what a mess it would be with a frozen sidewalk and driveway. Any one out their dealing with this same problem right now? I know next year I will have a heat cord up their.

Yep, I've been dealing with the same shizz since I put on my gutters. Even if you can't properly put up heat cord at this time maybe help to just lay it in the gutters if you don't have them capped.

[MinnesotaMike]

To prevent further ice dams, uncover your vents on the roof.

When I used to get dams I would remove the snow from the vents and the dams go away shortly after.

Good Luck,

Mike

[BoxMN]

Throw a heat cord down overlapping the outside edge of the gutter, and going up "above" (high side) of the dam. There will be a channel melted in pretty quick, and as long as the water building up has a place to drain to, you should should be okay for now. Then fix it properly when it warms up. The heat cord really works fast. Good luck, sux to have that issue, but at least its not inside your living quarters... been there...

[reddog]

Figure out where the heat loss into the attic is getting there and fix that first. Everything else is a band aid.

[Tom7227]

You could consider going to a feed mill and getting some urea, aka nitrogen. It melts ice at the higher temps that we're having and is what your turf needs. I am not sure but it may also be less corrosive than salt.

[Pinusbanksiana]

I had huge ice dam issues until last year. Story and a half house with steep rood, about an 11/12 pitch. Rafters where 2x6 and packed with insulation and no vapor barrier. Attic had about R20 or so, again no vapor barrier. I ripped everything out, gutted the upstairs. Then I ripped plywood strips about 14 inches wide and the full 8 feet long. Attached 2x2 8 feet along one edge and then nailed these alongside the 2x6 rafters. Now I had over a foot for more insulation and ventilation (continuous vents in eve and roof peak). On the inside I then put up foil faced eps and taped it up, an effective vapor barrier. I have not finished it off yet, I wanted to go a good winter and see if it worked and it did. I had very minor icicles hanging this year with no ice damming up above the icicles. Oh and I vaulted the ceiling while I was at it, putting collar ties in every third rafter that I will wrap with cedar or something.

If I had to do it over again I would have spray foamed it, but I still managed to do this cheaper than spray foam, not counting my labor.